Category Archives: Advertising

“Our office lunches consisted of peanut butter and Jello sandwiches, served with slugs of vodka.” Nicky Haslam

February 2, 2018 by Vickie Lester

The world was interconnected, even before the Internet. Nicky Haslam worked with Diana Vreeland (peanut butter and Jello?), who was a dear friend of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, seen here reading Jack Kerouac’s ON THE ROAD. Just this morning I was walking when I saw a neighbor sitting on his front step, scarf wrapped around his neck, cigarette in one hand, book in another, intently reading the same thing in the first rays of the sun. A book is a gateway […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, London, Memoir, New York, Photography, Publishing, Recipes, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: author William Kuhn, cookbook, decorator Nicky Haslam, Diana Vreeland, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Jello, Lady Diana Cooper, Nicky Haslam, Reading Jackie, unbound

Shh! I’m reading.

October 13, 2017 by Vickie Lester

For ten days author William Kuhn and I have been talking about writing, reading, screenplays, books, black and white photography, Los Angeles, the dream factory, and what and who we love. A tall order and today we wrap it all up. But I wanted you, dear readers, to know some of the most astute things I’ve read about reading and writing come from the pen of my friend, and they are in the book above. I’m going to quote now. […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Publishing, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: another reason I love L.A., author William Kuhn, book editor, interview, Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Reading Jackie, Susannah Corwin, why I write

She lived to be 104 and devoted her life to film…

October 10, 2017 by Vickie Lester

No, not Garbo. Although the woman I’m talking about did edit Camille, and was a pioneer in her field… Today William Kuhn asks me what the biggest misconception is about Hollywood. Find out what I said, and read a behind the scenes story about Margaret Booth. Link at the bottom of the page. Born in Los Angeles on Jan. 16, 1898, Booth started in films in 1915 as a “patcher” — a film joiner — for Griffith. He gave […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Story, Theater, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: behind the scenes in Hollywood, camille was edited by Margaret Booth, film editor, glamour, Greta Garbo, interview, Irving Thalberg, Margaret Booth, mutiny on the bounty, Susannah Corwin

…we have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language… Oscar Wilde

October 9, 2017 by Vickie Lester

Author William Kuhn and I both spent some formative years in London. We comprised part of the tide of children in dowdy woolen uniforms that crossed the city every day by tube or bus (or a combination of both) to school. We scratched out essays in fountain pen with consistently ink stained fingers, and probably, if pressed, could remember our Latin declensions. And I won’t get into the Latin version of Jingle Bells, well, I’ll just say it had something […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, London, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Publishing, Story, Theater, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: author William Kuhn, Frances Marion, interview, Latin, literary, Oscar Wilde, over sharing, social media, Susannah Corwin

“Have you ever heard of anyone who drank while he worked? You’re thinking of Faulkner. He does sometimes — and I can tell right in the middle of a page when he’s had his first one.” Ernest Hemingway

October 7, 2017 by Vickie Lester

Writers can be quick with the barbed quip. Sometimes they’re cruel to each other. Sometimes they are vicious about who employs them (like a movie studio), or where they live (like Los Angeles). This city has caught a lot of flack from the literary world. William Faulkner, a prolific and talented screenwriter — and by most accounts a sweet gentleman — had some famously rude things to say about the industry, and the place that, for many years, financed his […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Story, Theater, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: dream factory, Ernest Hemingway, I used to write screenplays, interview, screenwriter, Susannah Corwin, Vickie Lester, William Faulkner, writer

“Hollywood is a strange place if you’re in trouble. Everybody thinks it’s contagious.” Judy Garland

October 6, 2017 by Vickie Lester

Author William Kuhn asked me in an interview (you can read it by clicking here) why I adopted the name Vickie Lester for my digital presence and first novel. Thinking about it today I realized I wanted to add another answer to his question — it was because I admired Judy Garland. The comeback role of Vicki Lester (which I spelled incorrectly all these years) in A Star is Born closely resembled the real Judy. She was a trooper. She had […]

Categories: Advertising, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #amwriting another novel about Hollywood, A Star is Born starring Judy Garland, interview, Judy Garland, nom de plume, persona, personality, Susannah Corwin, Vickie Lester

Oh! Did I say that out loud? Hear me read from my latest novel…

October 5, 2017 by Vickie Lester

Good morning! Marvelous Mr. Kuhn (author, historian, amazing friend), has gotten me to read a page (2 minutes) from my work in progress. While I didn’t have the equipment shown above, I did have my trusty computer and a built-in, albeit tiny, microphone. After assuring me I didn’t sound like Minnie Mouse in a cathedral the reading is posted on his blog today. Won’t you join our conversation? Please give a listen, and leave your thoughts . Click here for […]

Categories: Advertising, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Short Stories, Story, Theater, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #amwriting, editing, film, first time, Hollywood, joan crawford on radio, novel, Susannah Corwin reads you a story, USC

”Careful grooming may take twenty years off a woman’s age, but you can’t fool a flight of stairs.” Marlene Dietrich

October 4, 2017 by Vickie Lester

The heroine of my new Hollywood novel is a daring young soul, and this morning one of my favorite authors asks moi, someone who is 7 years older than Gloria Swanson was when she made Sunset Blvd. if bravado is possible past 50. To continue along with our conversation click here, s’il vous plait.

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Story, Theater, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #amwriting another novel about Hollywood, aging in Hollywood, bravado, daring, femme fatale, Gloria Swanson, interview, Marlene Dietrich, Susannah Corwin, Vickie Lester

There are all kinds of soul mates and muses in the world…

October 3, 2017 by Vickie Lester

And this is what happens when you CLICK in Boston: We discovered that we’re both writers. We also discovered shared enthusiasms: England, Oscar Wilde, manners, glamor, noir atmosphere, architecture and art photography… William Kuhn, author and historian, has interviewed yours truly! It was fascinating, fun, and if I may say so, inspiring. He got me out of my slump and set me back on the writing road. Today the introduction is up on his site. There will be 9 questions […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Literature, London, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #amwriting, author William Kuhn, interview, Leslie Howard photographed by Edward Steichen, Pygmalion, roman à clef, Susannah Corwin, Vickie Lester

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